# TWEE, Darwin and you.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 14, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596 "2005-09-14T14:31:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/1 "2005-09-14T14:31:47Z")
Ok folks, I’ve seen the word “twee” tossed around here a bit lately. VERY lately. In fact so very lately that I just can’t help but wonder something…
You folks spewing “twee,” you don’t by any chance have a Discover magazine subscription, do you? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/2 "2005-09-14T15:03:45Z")
“Twee” - as a UK slang for “cutesy” - goes back to at least the late seventies. What are you talking about?
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/3 "2005-09-14T15:07:18Z")
> [@VCO3](#):
>
> “Twee” - as a UK slang for “cutesy” - goes back to at least the late seventies. What are you talking about?
I also get overtones of “precious” with it. It’s often applied to certain fantasy novels and stories where everything is just so … perfect in a wee little way.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/4 "2005-09-14T15:28:49Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#):
>
> You folks spewing “twee,” you don’t by any chance have a Discover magazine subscription, do you? :dubious:
I just read that article. “Twee” has been getting a lot of use here for three or four months. Perhaps you should ask if any of them are on Discover’s editorial staff? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/5 "2005-09-14T15:45:19Z")
I first heard the term used to refer to a [genre of indie pop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twee_pop). The idea is that the vocals sound almost like high school kids singing, and the lyrics are super-cute and sweet and softly emotional. The phrase “go to hell” might appear, but it could just as easily be “go to heck” to rhyme with “neck” or “tape deck.”
Imagine if you took the typical Emo commitment to openness about one’s emotions, and applied it to someone like Big Bird or Ernie from Sesame Street. The rhymes are simple, the lyrics are really basic, and the songs are catchy and poppy and no more than three minutes long.
> [@Salon.com](#):
>
> Twee kids listen to an emasculated version of rock ‘n’ roll. They don’t care much for sex or drugs. They favor puppy love over scary sex, prefer Japanese candy over beer and pot and like looking at postcards instead of going out into an intimidating, rainy world. They clad themselves in tight T-shirts with “Brady Bunch” stripes and mix-and-match corduroy. They wear unfortunate bedhead hairstyles and thick glasses rescued, almost always, from the bottom of a cardboard box at the local Lenscrafters.
Hope that fixes your wagon, kiddies.
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/6 "2005-09-14T16:17:51Z")
I believe that word got life here when **SkipMagic** was pitted for [being twee](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315282&highlight=twee).
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/7 "2005-09-14T16:25:21Z")
Big gween thing that gwows out of the gwound. Has woots and a twunk.
😃 \
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/8 "2005-09-14T16:58:01Z")
Can somebody give the gist of the Discover article so we know what your talking about?
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/9 "2005-09-14T17:14:18Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> Can somebody give the gist of the Discover article so we know what your talking about?
It was a riff at the beginning of an interview/profile of Richard Dawkins titled “Darwin’s Rottweiler”. [Here](http://www.discover.com/issues/sep-05/features/darwins-rottweiler/) is a link to the first few paragraphs, but they won’t help much.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/10 "2005-09-14T18:10:31Z")
Thanks.
Funny, I actually have that issue and read that article, and thought of the SDMB when I read the word ‘twee’ there, but never made the connection.
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### Author:  [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/11 "2005-09-15T04:46:40Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> Big gween thing that gwows out of the gwound. Has woots and a twunk.
>
> 😃 \
You fowgot about the bwanches and the weaves.
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### Author:  [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/12 "2005-09-15T05:03:44Z")
You must learn to face the truth, Inigo. LOTR _is_ twee.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twee-darwin-and-you/321596/13 "2005-09-15T05:05:37Z")
> [@Jurph](#):
>
> Hope that fixes your wagon, kiddies.
That makes me feel like my wagon is in pretty good shape, compared to some people’s.